‘Stay of execution for Kilroot at expense of Ballylumford’ says Stewart

Ulster Unionist MLA John Stewart.

Published:12:12Friday 09 November 2018

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A “stay of execution for Kilroot Power Station in Carrick at the expense of jobs at Ballylumford” has been described as “bitter sweet” by Ulster Unionist MLA John Stewart.

In a statement, Mr. Stewart said: “I note that overall the number of redundancies at AES is expected to be less than what was anticipated based on the result of the generation auction and award of contracts earlier in the year.

“However, the result of all of this is that Kilroot has been given a stay of execution and that the closure of the larger part of Ballylumford Power Station has been hastened. This is a bitter sweet situation in terms of Kilroot employees, who were under imminent threat of losing their jobs, getting at least an extension, but at the expense of Ballylumford.

“This has been a long, complicated story of contractual obligations, integrated energy markets, foreign ownership and questions about generational capacity.

“Those concerns about the capacity of local electricity generation and distribution to keep the lights on in Northern Ireland still remain, but what is now absolutely clear is that East Antrim, for so long the hub of electricity supply in Northern Ireland is losing that status.”